Evaluate the major functions of human resource management in the creation of sustainable competitive advantage of the organization.

The primary responsibility of human resources management in ensuring the competitiveness of the organization is the recruitment, hiring, and retention of the best available employees.
Human resource departments or agencies can be very powerful components of a larger organization. They can influence the pool of qualified candidates by manipulating the list of required skills, for instance, in such a way that capable potential recruits are isolated from the hiring process. While managers of individual departments for whom Human Resources are recruiting and vetting potential employees might have the final say in how those qualifications are posted, human resource personnel can, for better or worse, influence the process by virtue of its responsibility for properly screening candidates, as when it requires documentation from prospective employees of previous education and professional experiences. Verification of past education and work experience is essential to ensure the integrity of the process, but it must be done properly and with common sense.
As stated, ensuring the competitiveness of the organization does require careful recruiting and screening of applicants. Depending upon the nature of the position in question—for example, bagging groceries versus executing corporate strategies to increase productivity and growth—the quality of applicants recruited for screening can be highly dependent upon the way human resource managers carry out their responsibilities. If human resource personnel exercise the proper degree of professionalism, then recruits will be increasingly excited about the prospects of being hired by the organization in question. Human resource managers are not only gatekeepers, they are also cheerleaders on behalf of the organization for which they work. They want qualified candidates to be excited about the prospects of joining the organization, and they want the candidates to be interested in impressing human resource and department managers.
The importance of coordinating with those department managers requiring new employees cannot be overstated. Too often, functional managers, such as those in manufacturing, quality management, accounting, and so on, find themselves fighting with human resources staff about potential recruits. In other words, what should be a complementary relationship turns into a combative one. The functional manager wants and needs a particular skill set, but he or she also wants someone who works well with others. Personality conflicts can have a seriously deleterious effect on productivity. If human resource managers are insufficiently sensitive to that demand, otherwise well-qualified applicants may join to the detriment of productivity. All components of the organization, in other words, must be working in coordination. Human resource managers play a vital role in facilitating that process.